Randy Milo
Randy Milo is a raider who is active in Portland. The leader of the powerful Murder Machine gang, he was already a notorious figure. However, in the last three years he has gathered considerable infamy (and some degree of influence) through his other activities as one of the moderators of Portland Raid-It hub. History Randy Milo’s early life was largely dominated by poverty. He was born in 2255 to a family of Tato farmers in rural Oregon, and grew up with little in his life. His family were poor, with barely enough caps to get by, and had little beyond a rude hovel and whatever Tatos they could eke from the soil. Even then, those often were a luxury, as the farm was a target for raiders who would take whatever they could (which in this case was largely Tatos) in exchange for not killing everyone there. Despite constant reassurances by his parents that things would get better, Randy was unconvinced. At the age of twelve, he decided that the only way his life would improve would be if he took matters into his own hands. After a raider gang attacked the farm, he chose to follow them back to their lair and see how other people lived. What he found was a den of chem and tato-fuelled excess, where the Raiders relished in the wealth that they had taken from his family and others. Not as stealthy as he thought he was, Randy was caught by the raiders. While several suggested that they should ransom him back to his family (for Tatos) he instead made a counter-offer. Given his small size and innocuous nature, he would be an ideal scout for them, able to scope out targets and gather information while remaining relatively inconspicuous; after all, who would suspect a child. The Raiders agreed to his plan, figuring that if the worst came to the worst they could just kill him or sell him for caps (or tatos). Instead, the plan worked like a charm. For the next four years, Randy acted as the eyes and ears of the gang, learning about their targets and helping to lay the groundwork for their operations. In turn, they reaped the rewards, bringing in greater hauls then ever before. On two occasions, Randy saved them from disaster by discovering defences that they would not have come discovered until their attack. At the age of 16, Randy was considered to be no longer small and cute enough to pass for a kid, and was instead made a full member of the gang. This served only to fuel his ambitions and determination to live a wealthy, comfortable life, with Randy working his way up the ranks by whatever means possible. By 2277, at the age of 22, he was in charge of the gang following their previous leader’s death in an unforeseen tato-related accident. While he now had the power he wanted, Randy Milo was still not content with being the bandit king of a hole in the ground in the middle of nowhere. Instead, he sought bigger scores, and set his sights on the city of Portland. Divided between different factions and several settlements vying for dominance, he saw the city as being ripe for the harvest, like a particularly plump and juicy tato. Uprooting, he lead the bulk of his gang into the city, using the same tactics that had served him so well in past to secure a space and go to work. This new presence was not well received by a number of groups, not the least of which was the powerful Metal Machine Music gang. Lead by Rod McDongle, the MMM gang had carved out their own territories and did not appreciate a group of rural hicks intruding into their turf. Several skirmishes broke out between the two groups that threatened to escalate into all-out war. Seeing that such would be mutually self-destructive, Randy called for a meeting with McDongle. The raider kind didn’t waste time, telling Randy that he had two choices; either surrender or be destroyed. Randy’s response was to draw a hidden pistol and shoot McDongle in the face. At which point, several hidden raiders emerged with guns trained on McDongle’s surprised lieutenants. Randy then gave the MMM the same ultimatum McDongle had given him, only with more immediate consequences. They agreed, with the two gangs quietly merging. This made the new Murder Machine gang (Randy had renamed it for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that he thought ‘Metal Machine Music’ sounded dumb) one of the most powerful in the city. While careful to avoid conflict with the bigger factions, Randy instead focused on raiding and building up his personal wealth. He also became somewhat enamoured of the city’s counterculture, and embraced it while putting his own raider-based spin on it. His next big break came in 2283 when he received news of a new group of raiders operating in the city, ones that were acting in a most peculiar way. At the same time, he discovered a strange program on an old raido, one that consisted largely of Raiders having back and forward conversations about Raider-related matters. Reports from his scouts put the two seemingly things together, revealing that the new gang were setting up relay towers for a sprawling raider radio network known as Raid-It. Fascinated by this new development, Milo decided to introduce himself to the itinerant raiders. After gathering more about them and their operations, as well as the network itself, he announced that he was not only joining the network, but sought a position of power within the Portland spur of its structure. After some careful negotiation (with more then a few guns waved in faces), the raiders agreed and appointed him as the chief Raid-Editor of the Portland spur. Randy proved to be as bloody and ruthless a moderator as he was a Raider, instituting a reign of terror over the Portland Spur. He also made effective use of the network, using it not only to gather information about targets (its intended function) but also to quietly undercut his competition and establish his presence as the pre-eminent raider in the city. He also found that non-raiders were making use of the network, specifically members of Portland’s Ghoul population, who were using it to spread and popularise their brand of ‘weirdness’. Randy found this to be fascinating, and began discretely supporting their efforts to subvert the network that he otherwise so ruthlessly upheld. Personality Milo is one of the moderators of the local Raid-It hub, and as such, is responsible for supervising its content and users. A heavy handed tyrant, he rules the local hub with an iron fist, cracking down on any slight or breaches that he finds, real or imagined. Those that breach the rules or cross him for whatever reason will find themselves forcibly ejected from the channel, as he sends members of the Murder Machine gang to kill them and take their stuff as a way of administering what he feels as being ‘fair and reasonable’ discipline. However, the problem is that many of the community’s rules are arcane, not fully understood or not actually written down or formalised anywhere. As a result, there are many cases where a user has breached ‘the rules’ without knowing it as they had no idea that it was a rule in the first place. Milo reacts to these oversights with heavy handed punishment, stating that not knowing about a rule that was never written down anywhere and only existed inside his head is not a valid excuse. Any attempts at pointing out the flaws (or blatant hypocrisy) in his arbitration tends to result in a more severe punishment, as arguing about the rules is also a breach of the rules. Which isn’t written down either. When he isn’t punishing people for not being able to read his mind, Milo does occasionally try to contribute to the channel. Besides talking about fedoras, Raider Power Armour and how he wishes everything was more like it was in the Mojave, his favourite subjects are the mocking of any form of activism or the like which he derides as being ‘cringe fodder’. Despite this (and the number of non-existent, non-coded, not even remotely transcribed) rules that they often breach, he tolerates the non-raider Ghouls who use the network. This is largely due to his own love of such things as heirloom tatos, rugged outdoor wear and independent local craftsmen. Or, at the very least, using this information to know where to steal stuff from. Appearance Randy Milo has wholeheartedly embraced three cultures in order to suppress his own background as a dirt-poor Tato farmer, an element of his life that is reflected in his appearance. A rugged man in his early thirties, Randy’s features are dominated by a thick but surprisingly well-groomed beard that also serves to conceal several scars and his bad teeth. Thick rimmed glasses accentuate the look. He usually wears rugged leathers, over which is laid hand-made metal armour typical of many raiders. Finally, as a Raid-Editor, he wears a Fedora at all times. Category:Characters Category:Raiders